I’m Michael Clarke. I started as a trained chef and spent five years in kitchens before I realised that great food is only one part of a successful restaurant. The harder work is everything around it: service, management, marketing, the guest experience, reviews, and consistent revenue.
Over more than 20 years in hospitality I’ve worked on the floor and in management, including a year running the rooftop Attitude Bar & Restaurant at Avani Riverside in Bangkok. I then co-founded Kingsmen Hospitality Services with Claus Enghave and Roman Fix. For seven years we trained staff and improved guest experience for some of Thailand’s most celebrated restaurants and hotels.
After Kingsmen I joined other restaurant industry professionals who wanted to help restaurants in Thailand grow. Out of that I founded Markedine, a Bangkok restaurant marketing and management company. We help restaurants get found on Google and Maps, earn reviews, fill seats and bring guests back. We work with independent restaurants, groups, cafés, fine dining and hotel restaurants in Thailand, and with restaurants in Denmark.
Too many restaurants fail not because of the food, but because of poor management, weak marketing, and a lack of honest guidance. Real Restaurant Advice is where I put that guidance in writing, with no fluff. I still run Markedine, and the free Google audit on this site is a Markedine offer: we check your Google profile, Maps ranking and reviews and send back fixes. If your restaurant is in Thailand or Southeast Asia, that request goes to the Markedine team.